Say ahhhh -- More jaw surgery for snapping turtle

Monday

Dec 16, 2013 at 12:01 AMDec 16, 2013 at 4:04 PM

Our snapping turtle had previous been fitted with a thick metal rod supported with Play-Doh and Epoxy across his lower jaw to fix it in place and allow the bones to heal correctly. This is a strategy that tends to work very well with jaw fractures, as the Play-Doh supports the rod in the exact desired position, easily customizable, while the Epoxy holds the entire contraption firmly in place.

Unfortunately, in this case, it has not been working well. The brace worked very effectively for the first few weeks, but the Play-Doh recently began to degrade. Snapping turtles live in water, and need to be kept in an aquatic environment in order to be comfortable for long periods of time. Water, unfortunately, quickly destroys the Play-Doh setting. We had anticipated this, and hoped that the Epoxy would effectively seal the Play-Doh away from the water, but we were unable to get a water-tight layer and eventually the enough water leaked through to erode the fixture.

As a solution, Dr. Adamski recently performed an operation drilling holes into the turtle's lower jaw, allowing wire to be threaded through and tightened. This method, although more invasive, should provide an even tighter fit for the healing bones.